Tauranga City councillor Andrew Hollis is at the centre of a Code of Conduct complaint and investigation. Photo / File
Tauranga City councillor Andrew Hollis is at the centre of a Code of Conduct complaint and investigation. Photo / File
Tauranga City Council will investigate allegations relating to missing text messages that were the subject of an official information request that exposed conflict between elected members.
Council chief executive Marty Grenfell, in a statement, today confirmed a Code of Conduct complaint from councillor Larry Baldock had been received, prompting the investigation.
Baldock lodged the complaint on Wednesday before a meeting to discuss an earlier Code of Conduct Complaint against him laid by councillor Andrew Hollis.
Tauranga City councillor Larry Baldock has lodged his own Code of Conduct complaint against councillor Andrew Hollis, prompting an investigation into alleged missing texts. Photo / File
Baldock told the council meeting he had been advised lodging his own complaint was the only way to get an investigation into the missing texts.
The council decided to take no further action on Hollis' complaint against Baldock.
Grenfell said in his statement that Baldock's complaint had three parts:
- Alleged discrepancies in the text files relating to deputy mayoral letter of requisition communications between elected members, which were released as a result of Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) information requests earlier this year. The complaint focuses on text messages involving councillor Hollis, which are recorded in a number of councillors' text files, but which allegedly do not appear in councillor Hollis' files; and a number of texts between councillor Dawn Kiddie and councillor Steve Morris, which allegedly do not appear on councillor Kiddie's files;
- The alleged secret recording of a councillor's informal meeting by councillor Hollis, without the permission of those present, and the release of extracts from that recording to other parties;
- And an alleged discrepancy in the elected member register of interests relating to Hollis' role with the Mount Residents and Ratepayers Association.
Tauranga City Council chief executive Marty Grenfell, pictured with mayor Tenby Powell. Photo / File
The investigation would be carried out independently and it was too early to determine how much this could cost or how long it may take.
It would "be dependent on the complexity of the complaint, which is by no means straightforward", Grenfell said.
In response today, Hollis said, in his view, the complaint and the investigation were "extraordinary frivolous".
He was confident he had done nothing wrong and confirmed he had recorded a Zoom meeting in which others involved were unaware.
"You are allowed to film and record without letting other people know you are doing it. I don't feel I have broken any law.
"I know some councillors are upset and in my opinion, the reason is because they said things that they wouldn't normally say face-to-face with someone. Now they are upset at that."
Hollis said he was no longer president of the Mount Maunganui Residents and Ratepayers' Association and formally stepped down at last week's AGM.
The council's register of elected member interests records him as having stepped down from the president role on May 19.
Asked about the discrepancy in the dates, Hollis said that since May the organisation "ran leaderlessly, but with obvious input from myself and others". The AGM formalised his resignation, he said.
Regarding the alleged missing texts, Hollis has said that when asked to review the messages on his personal phone, he used his discretion at what was council- and public-related and what was personal. Others gave the council everything and "that's why some of my texts don't match".
He remained "100 per cent confident" and had zero concerns over the investigation.
